New for Traders: Week ending Nov. 16

A wrap-up of new products and services from around the industry

The U.S. Federal Trade Commission approved CME’s bid to acquire the Kansas City Board of Trade for $126 million in cash.

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will not postpone new transparency rules requiring gas, oil and mining companies to disclose payments made to foreign governments for extraction rights.

The National Futures Association (NFA) launched an updated version of its Background Affiliation Status Information Center (BASIC), which provides additional financial information on futures commission merchants.

Bats Chi-X Europe has reportedly filed a proposal with the Financial Service Authority to become a registered investment exchange. If successful, it would become the third U.K. exchange, after the London Stock Exchange and ICAP’s Securities & Derivatives Exchange.

Altegris Clearing solutions announced the creation of the Altegris CTA Challenge, a year-long competition that will recognize the industry’s best commodity trading advisors. All qualified CTAs are eligible. Registration closes on Dec. 10, and the winner will be announced in early 2014.

CME Group will pay a total of $2 million to almost 200 Peregrine Financial Group (PFG) clients who traded on CME exchanges. The cash comes from a CME fund established earlier this year to protect farmers, ranchers and agricultural coops that use the company’s market to hedge their products.

CME Group announced it has reached a definitive agreement to acquire the Kansas City Board of Trade (KCBT) for $126 million in cash and a distribution of excess cash to members. CME Group agreed to keep the trading floor open for at least six months and will maintain a committee of KCBT participants to advise on hard red winter wheat contract terms and conditions for at least three years. CME Group CEO Phupinder Gill says, “This transaction will produce cross-margining benefits and other capital efficiencies."

Phillip Futures DMCC, an online trading services provider, has been approved as a broker clearing member of the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX). The company offers clients a variety of financial services, such as stock-broking, share financing, asset management and investment research.

NASDAQ will launch NASDAQ OMX Datacenter Extended (NODE) across Europe to give customers access from the exchange’s current Points of Presence in London and Frankfurt to its equity, fixed income, commodity markets and colocation space in Stockholm, Sweden.

The New Zealand Market (NZX) launched NASDAQ OMX’s multi-asset trading platform, X-stream. The move is designed to provide flexibility in the creation of new products, and contribute the growth of dairy derivatives and NZX’s 2013 launch of equity derivatives.

Intercontinental Exchange Inc. licensed Markit’s North American and European corporate credit default swap indexes, with the aim of developing futures and options contracts based on Markit’s CDX and iTraxx index families.

The Options Industry Council (OIC) and the Shanghai Association for International Exchange of Personnel signed a memorandum of understanding to strengthen cooperation on options research and education.

Financial holding company Leucadia National Corp. will acquire Jefferies Group Inc. in a $2.48 billion all-stock deal expected to close in the first quarter of 2013. Leucadia was Jefferies’ largest shareholder.

Eurex Clearing launched Eurex OTC, a new over-the-counter swaps clearing service for interest rate swaps. The clearing and collateralization of OTC and exchange-listed derivatives is now integrated in the same clearing house and within one clearing framework.

NYSE Euronext and Brazil’s Americas Trading Group (ATG) will launch ATS Brasil, a new over-the-counter trading platform for Brazilian stocks. ATG will own 80% of the new venue, and NYX will own the other 20% and provide the technology.

Bloomberg introduced a new feature allowing clients to trade foreign exchange options using the company’s multi-bank trading platform, FXGO. With the request-for-quote system, users can request and consolidate pricing for any currency option simultaneously.

CME Group is expected to offer 30 forex futures products, including currency pairs involving the USD, EUR and CNY when it launches its European bourse next year.